"With the continuous increase in R&D investment by Android manufacturers and upstream supply chains, the hardware technology has improved and matured, the application of software systems has been optimized, and the consumer experience has been continuously improved. The further decline in prices has also made more consumers willing to use folding screen mobile phones early. "
On February 20th, the latest quarterly tracking report of mobile phones released by International Data Corporation (IDC) showed that in the fourth quarter of 2023, the market shipment of folding screen mobile phones in China was about 2.771 million units, up 149.6% year-on-year. A number of new products from Huawei, OPPO and Glory promoted the rapid growth of the folding screen market in this quarter.
In 2023, the China folding screen mobile phone market shipped about 7.007 million units, up 114.5% year-on-year. Since the launch of the first product in 2019, the folding screen mobile phone market in China has grown by over 100% year-on-year for four consecutive years.
However, folding screen mobile phones still often appear "the screen is not resistant to falling, the maintenance price is expensive, and the screen itself is prone to problems". Guo Tianxiang, senior analyst of IDC China, told the Beijing News Shell Finance reporter that with the continuous progress and maturity of technology, especially the increasing participation of domestic supply chains, some problems related to folding screens will continue to improve. "But it still takes more time to completely solve it."
The price of folding screen dropped to 400-600 dollars.
The market share of transverse folding products increased to 68% again.
The price of folding screen mobile phone continues to drop. According to IDC data, in 2023, the share of mobile phones with folding screens above $1,000 has dropped from 81.0% a year ago to 66.5%, down 14. 5 percentage points year-on-year. In addition to the overall cost reduction, the products in vertical folding form are relatively cheaper, which also makes the price of folding screen drop to the price range of 400-600 dollars in 2023.
In terms of product form, horizontal folding products are more popular with consumers in China. Although the price of vertical folding products is relatively lower, horizontal folding products have been favored by more consumers in China because they can better reflect the big screen experience of folding screen mobile phones. In 2023, the market share of transverse folding products increased to 68.1%, up by 10.4 percentage points year-on-year.
At present, the vertical folding products are not only easy to carry, but also consumers still lack the necessary use scenarios. At the same price, there is also a clear gap between the use experience and the straight board machine, and there is still room for improvement in product quality.
IDC pointed out that the importance of horizontal folding products in the mobile office scene of high-end business people is increasing. At the same time, the high-end people pay less attention to the price, and are more willing to choose the horizontal folding products with full product configuration.
Recently, it has been reported that individual mobile phone manufacturers have stopped planning to release new small folding models this year. In this regard, Guo Tianxiang said to the Shell Finance reporter that it is mainly a demand issue. "There is no rigid requirement for vertical folding usage scenarios. The sales volume is not up, the price is not high, and the product quality problems lead to great after-sales pressure, and the final cost is high, and most manufacturers are losing money. Individual manufacturers are not saying that they will not do it at all, but they will be suspended. When the supply chain technology is more mature and the cost and quality are better, they may come back. "
Huawei occupies the first place in the domestic folding screen market in 2023.
Folding screen is still the key product of various manufacturers in 2024.
In terms of the market performance of folding screen mobile phone manufacturers, the above report pointed out that Huawei Mate X5 series has been in a state of price increase since its listing, and the supply is in short supply, helping Huawei firmly occupy the first position in the domestic folding screen market in 2023, with a market share of 37.4%.
OPPO gained 18.3% market share and ranked second in the overall folding screen market; Among them, the market share of vertical folding products ranks first with 36.3%; The horizontal fold Find N3 series has been widely praised around the world.
Glory made great efforts in the folding screen mobile phone market in the second half of 2023, and won the third place in the folding screen mobile phone market for the whole year with the hot sales of Magic V2 and other new folding products, with a share of 17.7%, and the shipment volume increased by 467.0% year-on-year, with the fastest growth rate.
Samsung occupies more than half of the global folding screen mobile phone market, but ranks fourth in the highly competitive China market with 11% market share. Vivo ranks fifth, and its first 5G horizontal folding product X Fold 2 released in 2023 is about to be replaced.
Guo Tianxiang concluded that "thinness" has become the primary factor affecting consumers’ choice of folding screen mobile phones. However, if the pursuit of "thinness" blindly leads to the decline of reliability, it will directly affect consumers’ long-term choices in the future. However, the use scenario of vertical folding products has not been fully discovered, and products that position potential users as "fashionable young women" will form direct competition with Apple.
"Folding screen mobile phones are still the key products of various manufacturers in 2024. The participation of more manufacturers and the launch of more products will continue to promote the rapid development of the folding screen mobile phone market. " Guo Tianxiang said.
In addition to the flexible size of the screen itself, will there be some new innovation highlights compared with the straight board machine? In this regard, Guo Tianxiang responded to reporters that vertical folding products are more convenient to carry after folding. Horizontal folding products are mainly the advantages of large screen, but more need to be reflected by the adaptation of software system applications.
Beijing News Shell Financial Reporter Sun Wenxuan
Editor Yue Caizhou
Proofread Liu Baoqing
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